14. Roxy
Roxy
Each step I take crunches gravel beneath my boots. My ponytail swings as I stride ahead, my determination refusing to waver. Dressed in all black, long sleeves to cover my raw wrists, I’m dressed to kill. Not an ounce of fear remains inside of me. Just hot rage, flooding my veins.
I shove the peeling door out of my way, barely noticing it crash against the wall. There could be one person in here or a hundred. I don’t care.
My eyes laser in on the door Maddy came out of last night.
And that’s where I go.
“Roxy?” Leon calls, but I ignore him.
Taking the stairs two at a time, I go up and up, all the way to the penthouse apartment. I love my best friend. I really do.
But, boy, do I have a bone to pick with her.
A bone in the shape of two deranged fucking twins.
When I woke up this morning, I thought I had dreamt it all. The cross. The toys. The piercings.
My mind was just grasping consciousness while I stretched in the massive bed, when I felt it. The throb of a new piercing. I stared at the bars for a solid minute, with an unhinged jaw and wide eyes. And then I screamed.
Finally, their door comes into view. I don’t pause to knock, shoving the handle down and whipping the thing open. My feet stumble for a second, not really expecting it to be unlocked.
Two pairs of eyes blink at me from the kitchen. Stormy blue ones and wide brown ones.
“What the hell,” Maddy clutches her chest.
Ash leans against a kitchen counter, wearing only grey tracksuit pants, the full glory of the president on full display, tattoos and all.
Maddy sits on a stool at the kitchen island, wearing the shirt he must’ve lost.
She opens her mouth to speak again, but I cut her off.
“When was anyone going to tell me that there are two of them?” I seethe, hands finding my hips.
A line forms between Maddy’s brows.
My glare turns to Ash, who has gone back to whatever sizzles in the pan, holding a spatula, dimples popping in his cheeks.
“What do you mean?” Maddy slips off her chair and walks over to me.
It’s hard to stay angry looking at her with messy blonde hair sticking up every which way and a shirt that swallows her whole.
But no. I am angry.
“Oh, just the demonic twins under your employ,” I bite out. Ash’s head cocks in my direction at my tone, a warning look in his eyes. I swallow, trying to think of what to say or how to word it. “I thought I was... but it was both.”
I’m not making sense. Maddy’s face screws up in obvious confusion.
Ash snorts loudly, throwing his head back, biting his lip. We both turn in his direction, watching him try and fail miserably at holding himself together. His shoulders shake, and finally, his loud laugh slips out.
“I’m sorry,” he wheezes when Maddy glares at him. My face heats up , and I grit my teeth together. “Please don’t tell me you fucked both of them, thinking they were the same person.”
Maddy spins back to me, her mouth gaping.
The look on my face must be answer enough, because Ash falls apart, clutching his stomach.
The corner of Maddy’s lip twitches, and I narrow my eyes on her. “Don’t you dare.”
Her hands fly up. “I thought you knew. How could you not know?”
Inhaling, I try to steady the heat flowing through me.
“Oh, I don’t know,” the fake smile stretches on my lips. “Someone must have forgotten to mention this very important fact.”
Ash snorts again, coughing to cover his laugh. “Okay, okay, I’m going,” he chokes out, eyes watering with amusement. He pauses before turning suddenly. “Wait, no, I have questions.”
“Babe, the pancake,” Maddy murmurs, pointing to the smoking pan.
“Tough guy, running his tough club making pancakes,” I mumble, knowing I’m being petulant but completely unable to stop myself.
Maddy bites her lip, stifling her own giggle, and Ash shrugs.
“Hey, these hands are good at many things. Snapping people’s necks, making my old lady cum, and making breakfast.”
His grin is pure evil, knowing he’s won that one.
“I am not an old lady, nor will I ever be an old lady,” Maddy grumbles, crossing her arms.
Ash winks at her, and their love fills the space in a sickening pink cloud.
“Can we get back to what I came here for?” I huff, shoulders sagging as I plop myself into a stool. “They tricked me!”
Maddy returns to her stool and looks at me curiously. “You slept with them?”
Groaning, my head falls against the cool island.
“The worst part is that their dicks are literally identical!” My voice is muffled, but Ash still huffs anyway.
“She knows!”
My head swings up, and all I see is a blushing Maddy.
“Holy fuck, have you slept with everybody in this club?” I grumble, before quickly adding, “don’t answer that.”
Planting my elbows on the island, I bury my face in my hands. My head is spinning.
The worst part of it all? Is that hearing that Maddy slept with them makes my stomach twist into an uncomfortable knot.
My jealousy is so unbelievably out of place right now, yet here we are.
“I’m sorry, Roxy,” Maddy rubs her hand over my back. “Obviously it doesn’t mean anything between me and them. And I’m sorry for not realising you didn’t know they were twins. I just, don’t know how you didn’t know that. But that’s my bad.”
“Those fuckers,” Ash chuckles to himself, shaking his head as he discards the burnt pancake into the trash and pours some new batter into the sizzling pan.
My whole body feels heavy, stiff, and sore. Strapped to that cross, eye to eye with that man, who I now know wasn’t Kai… I thought that I was going to die. And then he made me feel everything so torturous that I almost did die.
“Roxy,” Maddy shakes my hand, pulling my attention. “They aren’t hurting you or anything, are they?”
Flashes of molten heat spreads through my body. Glinting silver needles. Dark, cold eyes. My body and mind coming undone in ways I didn’t know were possible.
I swallow, pushing it all away. “No, of course not,” I reply, though the words come out raspy.
As if on cue, my nipples tighten, reminding me of my new jewellery.
Does it make me sick that I love them?
After my initial shock this morning, I found myself unable to stop staring at them. They look so pretty. I was always too scared to bite the bullet and get them. Turns out, when you don’t have a choice, it weirdly makes it easier.
Ugh. What is happening to my brain?
“I’ve got to go,” I mumble, sliding off the stool. Leaning over, I kiss Maddy’s cheek, patting her on top of her head. “Bye, Maddy Baby.”
“Sure you don’t want a pancake?” Ash drawls.
I fake a gag, looking at yet another pancake with smoke wafting off it.
“I’d rather tattoo your dick!” I call out, making my way towards the door. “Oh wait, I already did that!”
The door shuts down his outraged gasp and Maddy’s giggle.
All the fire that burned inside me on the way up has slowed to a dull spark. My feet move slowly down the stairs. I’m exhausted. Every muscle aches like I’ve just finished Arnold Schwarzenegger’s full body workout. Shoulders burning and thighs that cramp with every step.
The club grow louder the closer I get. Rough wood rests under my palm as I freeze behind the door.
Is he out there right now? Sorry... They. Are they out there?
I give the door a shove and the yellow glow of the club, mixed with red from the neon sign blaring through the window, spills out.
Scanning the area, I don’t see them. My shoulders sag just a little, and I shake my head at myself.
Roxy girl, c’mon.
What I do see, is Leon in a booth with his laptop shining in his face, an amber liquid in his glass. Another man sits next to him, and Leon smiles seductively when he speaks.
With a smirk, I stride over to them, stopping at the table. His green eyes flick to me.
“Gosh, you’re a sight for sore eyes,” he murmurs, eyes sliding down my body before shooting back up.
Rolling my eyes, I scoff. “When you're done being a massive man whore, can we hang out? I need a friend.”
His smile is so boyish.
“What did you have in mind, babe?” he drawls, closing his laptop.
I can feel the glare from the man next to him, who I obviously just cockblocked.
“Hmm,” I hum, because I hadn’t quite gotten to that yet. Suddenly, an idea pops into my head. “You can paint my nails and I’ll tell you about my outrageous sex life.”
His eyes flare, head tipping back on a raspy laugh. “Oh, you are so on.”
Leon’s apartment is weirdly nice for a guy in his early twenties, who also happens to be a motorcycle club member. Not a single overhead light is on. Like seriously. Yum.
Sitting on his white fluffy carpet, he slides the black coat over my now pointed nails.
If that deranged twin wants to call me black cat, I’ll come with claws next time.
“I don’t even know the other twin’s name!”
For some reason, I told Leon the whole story. Everything. Starting with me pouncing on Kai and finishing with me panting, tied to a cross with fresh piercings.
None of seemed to phase him.
Instead, he bit his lip and almost purred like a damn house cat. No one will ever replace Maddy, but I knew if I told her what really happened, she’d freak out. Which a real friend should totally do. Fuck, I’m freaked out.
But right now, I need a little bit of ignorance. And damn, does he do a good manicure.
“So, you’ve got Kai, who you already know,” Leon murmurs, eyes flicking up to me. “Then you have Kaleb. Equally terrifying. Equally messed up.”
“I don’t know about that,” I grumble, Kaleb’s cruel smirk invading my brain.
“Damn, overstimulation torture,” he drawls, smirking as he continues doing my nails. “How’d that feel?”
Breathing deeply, I can’t help but groan out loud. “Better than anything I’ve ever fucking experienced.”
He chuckles before the room falls into an easy silence.
It’s funny. Just a few days ago, I refused to even be in the same room as gang men. Now, I’m willingly in one of their living rooms, letting him pamper me while I tell him about two of them that I’m fucking.
Crazy how things change when you bring a bat down onto someone's skull.